Let it be said that we wrote the messages imprinted on our hearts.

The C Word

Change is good, change is right, change is inevitable. Change strengthens us, challenges us, and shapes us into the people we need to be instead of the people we want to be. I can roll with that. But sometimes change just sucks.

There really is no rhyme or reason to it – it simply smacks us in the face and says, “Hey, I’m here.”

What are we supposed to do when that happens? How do we process the awkward unease that settles upon us in the midst of unexpectedness?

Most of the time I find myself wanting to pitch a fit, like a toddler, and roll around on the floor with my arms flailing in the air. I want to shout perfectly scripted angry things at everyone who’s responsible for the change and maybe even slam a few doors extra loudly.

Does that sound like a brilliant plan? Oh it always does to in-the-moment-Amy. But for let’s-be-rational-Amy, it would only result in a sore throat and a bruised heart.

When God throws those curve balls my way – which is a useless metaphor because I’ve never understood baseball and probably never will – I just have to swallow my pride and reach out. I think there’s a rather common misconception that accepting change means sucking it up and moving on. Wrong. Accepting change means finding people who can accept it with you, people who get that change is ridiculously weird, painful, confusing, and unsolicited.

When the autumns of our lives decide, as they always do, to morph into winters, we don’t need to suffocate in the accompanying bedlam. The emotions and questions are good – they are what’s needed, not the change itself. We are forced to face those parts of us that tend to become buried beneath the chaos of the everyday, the parts that could use a little sunlight and some TLC. But we never have to face those parts alone.

Seasons send us into the arms of the seasoned. So we wear their comfort, the comfort we cannot provide for ourselves, like an old, comfy sweater, which, incidentally feels a lot like wearing a hug. And if lots of change means lots of hugs, I think we may just be able to cope.